1. Field
The present invention generally relates to surge protectors and improvements thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to RF protectors having surge suppression modules and improvements thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Communications equipment, computers, home stereo amplifiers, televisions and other electronic devices are increasingly manufactured using small electronic components that are vulnerable to damage from electrical energy surges. Surge variations in power and transmission line voltages, as well as noise, can change the operating frequency range of connected equipment and severely damage or destroy electronic devices. Electronic devices impacted by these surge conditions can be very expensive to repair or replace. Therefore, a cost effective way to protect these devices and components from power surges is needed.
Harmful electrical energy surges can originate from a variety of possible causes. One such cause is radio frequency (RF) interference that can couple to power or transmission lines from a multitude of sources. The power or transmission lines act as large antennas that may extend over several miles, thereby collecting a significant amount of RF noise from such sources as radio broadcast antennas. Another source of RF interference stems from equipment connected to the power or transmission lines that conducts along those lines to the equipment to be protected. A further cause of harmful electrical energy surges is lightning and typically arises when a lightning bolt strikes a component or transmission line that is coupled to the protected hardware or equipment. Lightning surges generally include DC electrical energy and AC electrical energy up to approximately 1 MHz in frequency and are complex electromagnetic energy sources having potentials estimated from 5 million to 20 million volts and currents reaching thousands of amperes.
Surge protectors protect electronic equipment from damage due to the large variations in the current and voltage resulting from lightning strikes, switching surges, transients, noise, incorrect connections or other abnormal conditions or malfunctions that travel across power or transmission lines. Ideally, an RF surge suppression device would have a compact size, a low insertion loss and a low voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) that is capable of protecting hardware equipment from harmful electrical energy emitted from the above described sources.